Crush: A Zuko Songfic
by clearspring2009
Summary: How Zuko met Kaiya, and other things in between. Set to the song Crush by David Archuleta. My first songfic, hope you like it!


Zuko looked out the window and into the night. He could hear turtle ducks quacking to each other in the pool outside his room, but aside from that, it was silent.

___Hung up the phone tonight,__  
__Something happened for the first time__  
__Deep inside it was a rush, what a rush_

He thought about what had happened a few weeks ago. It was only a few weeks, but it felt like a million years. He had been with his father on a tour of the surrounding city when he spotted a girl bending fire from a lantern. She was a natural, just as good as Azula, but she seemed so calm and quiet when Azula's bending was fueled by rage. He told his father that he would look around the city, and promised to be back in two hours. Fire Lord Ozai was glad to get rid of his annoying son, and let him leave. He went and bought Fire Nation garments from a shop, but the cashier wouldn't accept his payment. It wasn't right for him to just take the clothes, so he left a gold piece behind some pots on a shelf. Maybe the shopkeeper would find it when he went to clean the shelves off. He hid in the bushes next to the firebender's house and watched her. Suddenly, she returned the fire to the lantern and called out, "I can hear you, you know. What's your name?" Zuko was scared to death, scared that she would be scared of him. Scared that his father would find out. Scared, because he didn't know what to do. He only wanted to watch her…__

_Cause the possibility__  
__That you would ever feel the same way__  
__About me, just too much, just too much_

But he walked out from behind the bushes anyways. "My name is, um… Lee." She was pretty, he noticed, with long black hair that she wore loose, and soft brown eyes that glittered when she smiled. "Hi, Lee," she said. An awkward silence passed. "So, Lee, what were you doing behind those bushes?" the girl asked. Zuko felt himself turned pink. "I saw you firebending –" he blurted out, not thinking. The girl smiled. "Can you firebend?" she asked, taking the fire from the lantern and holding it out to him in her hand. Zuko blushed again in spite of himself. He was a horrible bender. Clumsy and unsure. "Uh, yeah, I can bend, but I'm not too good at it," he found himself saying. __

_Why do I keep running from the truth?__  
__All I ever think about is you__  
__You got me hypnotized, so mesmerized__  
__And I just got to know___

_Do you ever think when you're all alone__  
__All that we can be, where this thing can go?__  
__Am I crazy or falling in love?__  
__Is it really just another crush?_

She laughed a tinkling laugh that instantly made Zuko feel better. "That's ok." Zuko took the fire from her, and their hands touched for just a second. He felt a tingle in his hand, and the girl looked away.

_Do you catch a breath when I look at you?__  
__Are you holding back like the way I do?__  
__Cause I've tried and tried to walk away__  
__But I know this crush ain't going away-ay-ay__  
__Going away-ay-ay_

He learned that her name was Kaiya, and her father was a potter. That afternoon, she taught him a little bit about bending fire, and he found himself liking it. When Master Iroto taught him, it was rigorous work, and the old bender never stopped criticizing him. But when Kaiya taught him, she made fire seem beautiful, not like the item of destruction his father used. No. In Kaiya's hands, fire was a beautiful living creature. She could make it twirl around her arms like a little snake, or soar in the air like a dragon-hawk. __

_Has it ever crossed your mind__  
__When we're hanging, spending time girl?__  
__Are we just friends? Is there more? Is there more?_

He went to see her the day after they met, and the day after that. Sometimes they didn't bend, they just walked around the city, looking at the people and the things for sale. Soon they became friends, but sometimes Zuko found himself staring into her eyes a little too long. It was wrong, he knew, for a prince to love a common girl like Kaiya, but he told himself that he didn't love her. That they were only friends. She didn't even know that he was the prince.__

_See it's a chance we've gotta take__  
__Cause I believe that we can make this into__  
__Something that will last, last forever, forever!_

_Do you ever think when you're all alone__  
__All that we could be, where this thing could go?__  
__Am I crazy or falling in love?__  
__Is it really just another crush?_

It got harder and harder to for Zuko to hid his feelings and his real self. He knew he would have to tell Kaiya the truth one day, and he hoped, with all his heart that she would accept him for who he was instead of fearing him.

_Do you catch a breath when I look at you?__  
__Are you holding back like the way I do?__  
__Cause I've tried and tried to walk away__  
__But I know this crush ain't going away-ay-ay__  
__Going away-ay-ay___

_Why do I keep running from the truth?__  
__All I ever think about is you__  
__You got me hypnotized, so mesmerized__  
__And I just got to know._

He wanted to believe that she liked him, too. That she was thinking about him just like he was thinking about her. That maybe, just maybe, they could be more than friends. __

_Do you ever think when you're all alone__  
__All that we could be, where this thing could go?__  
__Am I crazy or falling in love?__  
__Is it really just another crush?_

Secretly, Zuko admitted to himself that he wanted someone to love him. Ever since his mother left when he was ten, he had been alone. His father favored Azula over him, and none of his other relatives loved him like his mother did. Except for maybe Uncle Iroh. His old uncle, who was general, was always kind to him, and listened to what he said instead of just shaking him off like his father. But Iroh was always obsessed with tea, and that made Zuko angry sometimes. After all, tea was just hot leaf juice.

He fell asleep that night on his window perch, his dreams filled with images of his mother, and the sound of Kaiya's tinkling laugh. __

_Do you catch a breath when I look at you?__  
__Are you holding back like the way I do?__  
__Cause I've tried and tried to walk away__  
__But I know this crush ain't going away-ay-ay__  
__This crush ain't going away-ay-ay___

_Going away__  
__Going away-ay-ay__  
__Going away-ay-ay_

**First songfic! Hope you guys liked it. I love David Archuleta and I love Zuko! This comes 4 years before my story Flames and Forgiveness. Please read the note in my profile if you are confused (time goes differently in my stories. Zuko is older, so read the note!) Please review!**


End file.
